Argentina launches its first home-built satellite

What's the use in reinventing the wheel anyway? I doubt anyone could pull off a geosynchro satellite from ground up without hit and miss with a number of smaller satellites.

I'm thrilled about how it would empower a lot of people in Latin America. Better communication for Antartica is a bonus. I hope it sets an example for the rest of the nations there.

Having lived in Argentina for a number of years it is my opinion that the country has and produces really amazing talented individuals in the sciences. Regrettably, more often than not, this talent has to leave the country in order to be recognized and flourish. The opportunities in a country like Argentina are slim.

There's a dichotomy at play that is, well, sad:

Government in Argentina has been corrupt in more than one form (nepotism, theft of national resources, buying elections, exclusion from the law, oppressive, etc.) for generations.

It's a strange form of socialism where the masses live in progressively deteriorating socioeconomic conditions yet they keep supporting whoever promises a solution even though everyone knows once they achieve power they'll focus on stealing millions from the country rather than to truly help improve it.

Yet, somehow the country seems to be able to produce outstanding talent in certain domains.

And the culture is absolutely fantastic. Warm and caring people with high family values.

An Argie professional I know likes to say: "Argentina is a nice country to have come from".

I also know someone who used to be in the Argentinian equivalent of the US Secret Services, in other words, working inside government at the highest levels. The stories are, well, jaw dropping, to say the least.

And so, in this context, yes, it is really amazing to hear that Argentina can produce something like this. Surely it has to be 100 times harder than anywhere else.

It looks like these days the real challenge is in launching the transport vehicle without it exploding. Few countries have the technology for that.

Congratulations to Argentina, it's certainly a great achievement.